Operation Fast & Furious… Rocket Launchers?

You’re going to see the below quoted text a lot, because it’s an excellent summation of the problem that we’re having with the Obama administration’s catastrophically incompetent Fast & Furious disaster*:

Let’s review: When we first learned about Fast and Furious, the news was that a number of assault rifles had been sold to straw purchasers. Soon, we learned that the number was approximately 2,500 and that some of those were .50 caliber sniper rifles. Then we learned that somewhere between 1,200 and 1,300 of the weapons were unaccounted for, and that the ATF had allowed another upstanding gentleman to walk grenade components into Mexico (I guess he ended up in Mexico: no one knows because the ATF lost him). And finally, we’re learning that just a few days ago, on our side of the border, U.S. Border Patrol Agents found rocket and grenade launchers, assault rifles, and C4 explosives.

(More here, including an observation that I’d rather not think about.)

That last bit references this local report (via Town Hall)- “U. S. Border Patrol agents seized six assault rifles, one rocket launcher, a grenade launcher, and three packages of what appeared to be C-4 explosives Tuesday near the Rio Grande.” – complete with helpful picture, just in case you were wondering whether they might have just seized an artist’s portable carrying case, or something. Mind you, this particular seized contraband may not have had anything to do with Operation Fast and Furious (certainly you can’t buy fully-loaded rocket launchers in gun stores. At least, I hope) – but is it safe to bet that way? After all, the ‘grenade components’ thing refers to this story about an American citizen smuggling grenade parts into Mexico; in case you were wondering, yeah, the ATF knew about him and let him go. Last year**. The .50 caliber sniper rifle story? Here you go.

The whole mess, in a nutshell? Here and here and here and here and here: bottom line is, the US government massively screwed up by deliberately letting guns get run into Mexico – and into the waiting, eager hands of Mexican narco-terrorists. The Mexican government is fuming: it’s their citizens getting shot, and the Ugly Americans didn’t clear any of this with them. Gun rights organizations are fuming, too: they have suspicions about the ultimate goal of the Obama administration here, and there’s admittedly evidence that can be reasonably seen as backing them up on that. And the center-right is fuming most of all: and that’s because in a just universe, starting Monday, Attorney General Eric Holder would be spending his working hours sitting at a House Government Oversight table hooked up to a polygraph machine and describing his activities, day by day.

To which I can only say what I have to say: these things take time, and Grassley/Issa aren’t going anywhere. And they know who has to answer to this, in the end.

*Which is not to be confused with the Obama administration’s catastrophically incompetent Solyndra meltdown, or the Obama administration’s catastrophically incompetent Lightsquared scandal, or the Obama administration’s catastrophically incompetent stimulus meltdown, and I can do this all day.

**Also via Town Hall: Katie Pavlich seems to be covering this story over there.